A Memorable Birthday - 9th Jan

The road to change is in creating a shift in the way we think. During the course of our lives, the way we talk, the way we move and hold our body, the way we think and talk leads a person to have a vague conclusion about what and who we are.

Whatever the cause might be, we cannot change what we are born with, our genes take us one step further into a signature of our being, etched with significance. We than, happily take it from there. We shape and mold our life into what we want it to be and in some cases, what others want it to be. Each year brings us something new, each birthday gives us the yardsticks to compare and contrast the quality of life we have led. Some celebrate this auspicious day and some don’t.

I have my own way of denoting and celebrating this day; this day when I was blessed with life. I was always big on birthdays, to the extent that if anyone else didn’t celebrate it I would look at them with gaping wonder. I loved having big parties, wearing those party hats and blowing those candles with eyes shut tight, making that one special wish that I would want so fervently to come true that year.

Till today, I don’t know if any of my wishes made while blowing those candles on my cake have come true. I never remembered them, nor wrote them down. But my life has been good and that’s one thing that beats any wish. This year, the tables turned. Someone else wished for me on my birthday asking God to fulfill my reason for living on this planet. Well, that was nice, because I don’t think I ever wished like that for myself ever in my life. This birthday at 12am, my family members trouped in with gifts and a cake. I felt good, I felt I belonged and most of all, I felt loved. Even my nephew handpicked a birthday present for me with ‘love’ etched on it.

The feeling was euphoric; imagine my surprise when someone I knew just for a month called me up right at the time of my birth that night? Was that a sign that this is going to be a significant year of my life? Isn’t every year significant if only we believe it to be? I am a person who believes in karma, but I also believe in actions, so I shall plan until all my dreams come true, and if they don’t, I shall believe there is a certain reason for it not to be.

This birthday was all about ESP. My ex intern Julia called me after two months on my birthday without knowing about it. She said she awoke thinking about me. I laughed and told her it was my birthday. Strangely enough, two months back in November I did the same thing on her birthday. Secondly, my friends gave me a surprise party in the same place I was intending to invite them to. It was a combo birthday treat where for the first time ever, I cut a cake with another person whose birthday almost coincides with mine. Paul was born on the 11th of Jan.

I awoke on the dawn of 9th to another long distance birthday wish which included the call of one special friend who calls to wish me every birthday without fail.

And this time, my birthday celebration spilled over the next day with a treat for my colleagues.

So, another year and another momentous yardstick etched in my life. My wish for everyone in the world is to capture every moment however small and celebrate it as “the golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone” George Eliot.